Circa 9000 BC
Beyond Farthest Thule
Scholomance
A soft white glow filled the circular chamber. The floor and walls were made of a black obsidian-like material and spread around the perimeter of the chamber were open portals, each equidistant from the ones on either side of it. Up from the walls rose a towering arched ceiling fabricated from the same dark material. An arch which led to an opening that revealed a black starless sky above. Down from the center of the opening twisted a black needle-like spire which had no visible means of support. Its beginning, if it had one, was lost in the void beyond the edge of the opening, yet its termination was directly above a hexagonal dais in the middle of the chamber. An enormous deep dish of clear crystal sat on the dais, refracting the chamber's soft white light, and deep within the dish sat a large multi-faceted black crystal similar in appearance to that from which the chamber was fabricated.
And a single figure stared at the dais, dwarfed by both the magnitude of the chamber it stood within and the dais itself.
The figure was tall and slender with long slender limbs and delicate long fingers. It was dressed in a loose red robe which hid whatever muscles and curves may have been beneath. Long white hair cascaded down from its pale angular face. A pale angular face with almond shaped lavender eyes, a face that was framed by long pointed ears on each side and a sharp hairless chin beneath.
A presence entered the chamber and a Voice filled the figure's head as it did so.
My Apprentice, the Voice said. Have you prepared the Condenser?
Yes, Master, the figure answered, bristling with indignation.
The chamber trembled as if it were itself angry and that trembling manifested as the Voice in the figure's head.
You call me Master as if you are my Slave, snapped back the Voice. The Voice calmed and said, You are my Apprentice. After freeing you from your shackles, I offered you unconditional freedom and you chose to remain and serve. Remain and learn.
My apologies, Master, answered the figure, all hints of its indignation gone. I wish to serve and learn. The Condenser is ready.
Prepare the Crucible, answered the Voice.
The Apprentice pointed its left hand toward an open portal. A large hexagonal object which appeared to be constructed of the same obsidian-like material, the Condenser, floated in through the opening and toward the dais. As it approached the dais, the Condenser elevated until it was slightly lower than the bottom of the spire. Once under the spire, the Condenser rose until it made contact. A loud snap filled the chamber as it locked into place.
The Apprentice pointed with its right arm toward another open portal. A stream of liquid began to flow out of the portal. It shimmered and appeared viscous, like oil, but was completely clear. The liquid streamed its way through the air and began to fill the dish. The tail end of the stream made its way across the chamber and the dish filled to its rim just as the tail entered into it.
Now we begin, the Voice said. A blue globe appeared in the night sky above the spire, a globe with swirls of white.
A planet.
Lights began to stream down the spire. White lights which streamed down within its black and normally opaque surface. Down through the spire and into the Condenser. The first formed into a drop hanging from the Condenser, then released and fell onto the oil-like liquid. Once it touched the surface, the light streaked through the oil and into the submerged crystal.
And drop by drop the lights continued to be funneled into the black crystal.
The Apprentice began to concentrate on the lights as they made their way down the spire to the Condenser and the lights began to display details as the Apprentice did so. Figures with pinkish skins and shorter, rounded ears.
Human figures.
You have a question, my Apprentice? asked the Voice.
Yes, Master, the Apprentice answered. Why do I not look like them?
What you see when you concentrate on the souls being collected is a mirror of their form in Reality before their deaths, souls of beings capable of manipulating the Warp while they still existed in Reality, the Voice answered. But you did not possess a body before I fashioned this one for you.
I did not? stated the Apprentice in the manner of a question. Then why this form?
You are but a sliver of power I separated from One that you were enslaved to, answered the Voice. Even though the One from which you were separated has not yet been born, its presence reaches back through time. Such is the nature of the Warp.
The Apprentice continued to longingly stare at the souls funneling down the spire as the Voice spoke in its head.
Even as we collect these souls, the Aeldari are living their lives and growing ever more decadent, the Voice said. And with their rites, something new is growing. Something new which has always been here. Since you were a fragment of the One forming from the collective conscious of the Aeldari, I fashioned a form for you in their image.
There was silence in the air and in the head of the Apprentice.
Why are you capturing them? asked the Apprentice. Are you going to set them free like me? What are you going to do with them?
Eventually I will set them free, but for now, I am saving them, answered the Voice. The Warp is filled with entities that reek of Chaos. Reek of Chaos like the One from which I separated you. Entities that are growing more powerful by devouring such helpless souls. The voice paused for a long moment, as if contemplating something. Soon enough, they will recognize that destruction awaits them rather than reincarnation, and they will take action to save themselves, the Voice said. Til they save themselves, I will save those that I can as I wish to slow the growth of the Chaos I see within the Warp. After that day, how I wish to release these souls remains to be determined. As soon as the last words filled the Apprentice's head, the trail of souls funneling down the spire vanished as did the blue and white planet overhead.
The Chamber grew quiet and the Apprentice knew it was alone once more.